Peterborough Queensgate's £60 million cinema plan on track despite new scare for movie world

Bosses of Peterborough’s Queensgate shopping centre have shrugged off a new blow to the film industry and say they are confident their own £60 million cinema-led extension will be completed.

The reassurance comes after cinema group giant Cineworld, which runs Cineworld and Picturehouse in the UK, warned it is considering filing for bankruptcy in the US as one option to deal with $5 billion worth of debt.

A spokesperson for Cineworld, which operates a venue at Tower Fields, in Sapley, Huntingdon, said all the company’s cinemas would be operating as normal despite the firm’s internal financial difficulties.

Its problems have been blamed on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of big movie releases.

Managers at the Queensgate shopping centre in Peterborough say their long awaited 10 screen IMAX cinema is now set for completion by Easter next year.

The cinema will be operated by Empire, which is expected to take over the venue from the developers soon, although a date has not been given.

A Queensgate spokesman said: “All is fine and going ahead as planned.

He added: “It is all set for Easter.

“The handover will be soon.”

Ambitious plans for the cinema along with a string of new shops and restaurants in the Queensgate as part of a 70,000 square feet extension, that is expected to create 200 jobs, were first unveiled in 2015.

A lengthy planning dispute with Hawksworth Securities, which hopes to develop the neighbouring North Westgate site, delayed the start of works.

Construction was then hit by a double blow as first department chain John Lewis and then the fashion retailer Next announced the closures of their stores in the Queensgate.

Both retailers were part of the extension plans. John Lewis was relinquishing the space required for the works and Next was lined up to expand with a move into a larger unit created by the extension.

While the space occupied by John Lewis has still to be filled, the changing nature of the shopping centre can be glimpsed by the announcement by innovative indoor mini golf brand Puttstars that it is investing £2.5 million to open three nine-hole courses inside the Queensgate extension.